As the world awaited the arrival of the third in line to the British throne, a slightly smaller crowd was on tenterhooks for the final table of Event #36 of the Micro Millions 5. Granted, there was not as much at stake, and eventual winner AfricSpb was spared the speculation as to their sex. But there was a first prize of $6,359.18 at stake in this $11 no-limit hold'em contest with a $25,000 guarantee.

It turned out to be a swift conclusion to a final that had appeared bunged up and overdue when ten-handed. Back at the start the short stacks refused to budge. But after double ups knocked them up, chip leader at the time pb106 knocked them out; tenth place going to C KIM S.

That opened the doors to the others. iLOLuOUT, another short stack, followed when his queen-three was forced to abdicate when faced with Salem Rus's king-four. A hand later LeoRai big-slick was wiped clean by tiramissu47's ace-ten, the required ten landing on the flop.

Event 36 final table

Watching all of this were six of the others. The seventh, yirla, wasn't. Either disconnected, or occupied by labours elsewhere, yirla, absent since the final began, went out with a whimper in seventh.

At this point eventual winner AfricSpb was one of the short stacks. But pocket aces helped turn his tournament around (I'm using the Royal "he"). He was quickly up to 4.5 million when his ace-queen made a set of aces on the river, crushing tiramissu47's pocket nines - enough to send tiramissu47 out moments later in sixth place.

Further ennobled, AfricSpb rose into the lead a hand later:

Salem Rus was not done for, quickly turning seven-deuce into an unlikely monster to topple pb106 ace-five. It was enough to avoid a fifth place departure which instead went to the running good Canadian Running Goot who, after winning Event 35 earlier in the day, was on course for a second title in succession. He shoved with king-five only to find pb106 calling with a pair of queens. Royalty was working well today, ending Running Goot's good run.

pb106 breaches 10 million mark

That was enough to put pb106 back out in front with 9.5 million with four left. Make that three left when jelgavapoker, who I didn't notice play a single hand at the final, busted two minutes later, coming alive with ace-jack. pb106 had found king-ten and put his faith in a future king. It arrived, late, but on the river. pb106 up to 10.2 million.

pb106 - 11.3 millionAfricSpb - 7.3 millionSalem Rus - 1.4 million

But showing the same flashes of the stubbornness that delayed the final nine, Salem Rus wasn't going anywhere - shoving three times, getting called once and winning another to move up to 4 million in the space of a few minutes. His sparring with pb106 was enough to keep him alive a little longer.

One big push

With the big blind now 200,000 Salem Rus pushed on towards the 5 million mark. Then the leaders clashed, sending the momentum back to AfricSpb.

AfricSpb was up to 10 million, then 11.7 million and then 12.3 million. Salem Rus's defence had been strong but now began to crumble. He paid for AfricSpb's improvements, finally shoving with ace-eight, only to run into AfricSpb with ace-king.

Heads up

Heads-up play paused to make a deal, by accident, before they pressed on, with AfricSpb's lead significant. The paused at least allowed time to get accurate counts:

AfricSpb - 16,873,825pb106 - 3,371,175

pb106 quickly doubled when his ace-king raced against AfricSpb's pocket fives. After that not much made it to a flop, both players weary that the decisive hand was fast approaching. After just four minutes it arrived.

Congratulations to AfricSpb on well-earned MM5 crown. That's enough royal references. Here's the full result.

There is more than $5 million guaranteed throughout the MicroMillions 5 series, with 100 events running until July 28th in all poker disciplines. Visit the MicroMillions 5 home page to find the full schedule as well as all the statistics so far, as well as coverage, leader boards and everything else.